


Birdcage

by Kaimiiru



Category: BIRDMEN - 田辺イエロウ | Tanabe Yellow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 15:52:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19321312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaimiiru/pseuds/Kaimiiru
Summary: An au where Umino doesn’t detect Senichi while the bird club is brainwashing Kinoko.Eishi-centric





	Birdcage

Closing his eyes, Inspector Senichi could hear the thunder of wings echoing from the rooftop above where he was hiding. His breaths were soft, his heartbeat slow. He was adept at hiding and finding out secrets. That’s why he was an inspector.

Dress shoes tapped down the staircase, and Senichi opened his eyes to find Kinoko walking past him. She was swaying a bit, and rubbing the side of her head in an exhausted manner.

“Did you have a nice chat with the seraphim?” Senichi asked politely, nearly making Kinoko trip as she faced him, her eyes slightly wider.

Kinoko quickly composed herself. She leaned on the opposing wall, crossing her arms, looked down.

“There’s no way we can catch the seraphim. They won’t bargain with us at all if we don’t let them go where they want freely. Not even Eden’s usual method will work.” Kinoko looked up, frowning a bit, as if dazed, “I came here to meet them becau-”

“No, no, don’t try to defend yourself. Go back to headquarters. You can report to Kyo-san there.” Senichi interrupted her. Briefly, Kinoko frowned more deeply but turned to briskly walk down the steps. Senichi’s eyes wandered thoughtfully, before a small smirk grew on his face.

There was something off about what Kinoko said after her meeting with the seraphim, and he was going to get to the bottom of it. He pulled out his phone.

“Security? I want you to keep an eye on Karasuma Eishi’s whereabouts. I believe the seraphim may have done something to Kinoko-san.”

\-----------

A familiar crawling sensation burned within Eishi’s back, and his eyes shot open. Lying within the warm covers of his bed, he slowly sat up, took control of his breathing, and scratched idly at his back. He closed his eyes. He remembered white, remembered Takayama’s outstretched hand towards him, remembered reaching for him, but not much else. It was like a dream, after all.

He got up, turned off his clock’s alarm before it went off on its own, and went into the bathroom. He got ready for school, and the tingling in his wing mark gradually calmed on its own. Letting his wings out would relieve the sensation, but he wasn’t keen on doing so when his mother could walk in.

Back in his room, he examined his school uniform in his hands.

_This is… the last day I’ll go to school, probably._ He thought as he changed his clothes, _I can’t continue to live like this. The seraphim around the world are increasing and it’s only a matter of time before Eden closes in on our lives… Even what we’re going to do tonight is just buying us more time._

He fixed his tie in a well-practiced movement, but his mother’s voice brought him out of his thoughts.

“Ei-shiiii!” Her voice was worried, a bit strained.

_Another lecture about how sneaking out at night is bad?_ Eishi wondered as he walked down the stairs.

He stopped on the steps. Other than his mother, three people were at the door: the Eden agent from before, Senichi, and two police officers by his sides.

And Eishi was plunged into a deep, deep, dread.

_They must have found out about Umino,_ He thought, frozen on the spot. His mind quickly switched gears into overdrive, and he kept his face carefully fixed into a neutral look as he forced his feet to go forward, _Wait, wait, let’s not jump to any conclusions without more proof-_

“Karasuma Eishi,” Inspector Senichi called, “Would you mind coming with us to answer some questions?”

Eishi turned to the kitchen and walked inside, ignoring him. There was breakfast- some eggs, bacon, and toast- on the counter, and the TV drawled with the morning news. A normal morning, if it weren’t for Eden literally knocking on his door.

“I’m so sorry about him,” His mother apologized to Senichi, and then called again, “Eishi, they’ve found out that you’ve been sneaking out late at night, past curfew! I told you sneaking out with your friends would have consequences!”

Eishi stuck a piece of bacon in his mouth. He wasn’t hungry, but he needed something. He wasn’t sure when he’d eat next. Concentrating, he tweeted out, _**”Everyone needs to get up now. Eden’s trying to take me somewhere. What’s everyone’s status?”**_

_”I’m fine! There’s no one here trying to take me anywhere... Are you alright?!”_ Rei was the first to respond, immense worry dripping from his tweet.

_”Nothing’s going on here! Need some help?”_ Umino soon after chirped.

_”Kamoda and I are good here.”_ Irene replied.

_”Ei-chan! I’m coming over to help!”_ Kamoda declared.

_**”No. Stay where you are. Their snipers are probably watching the skies…Worst case scenario, they might have found out what we did last night,”**_ Eishi took the buttered toast from the table, but was too deep in thought to bite it.

_”Catching the leader is a good way to lure out the leader’s followers.”_ Irene advised grimly.

_**”Exactly…”**_ Eishi paused, _**”Irene… should I go peacefully?”**_

_”Did they get the police involved?”_

_**”Yeah. They must have successfully bargained with the government.”** _

“Eishi, come here when you’re done! Don’t leave the police men waiting!” Eishi’s mother called again.

_”Well, kiss your normal life goodbye.”_ Irene sighed.

_**”... I’m going to go with them. They should all focus on me if I do… and in the meantime you all can escape.”**_ Eishi decided.

_”Ei-chan! I’m worried…!”_ Kamoda called.

_**”I’ll be fine. It’s just to buy time.”**_ Eishi bit into the toast, his mouth dry. But he wasn’t shaking. His eyes were clear as he walked back to the front door. He barely registered his frowning mother, and had a bit of trouble really focusing on Senichi’s expression as he listened to his friend’s tweets.

_”Hey! Let’s all meet up somewhere?”_ Umino suggested.

_”The usual place on the sky tower!”_ Rei said. There was a chorus of agreements.

_**”Be careful.”**_ Eishi told them, taking another bite of his toast.

“Karasuma-kun?” Kenichi asked, smiling at him knowingly.

_”Worry more about yourself, Karasuma.”_ Irene warned.

“You’re Senichi-san, right?” Eishi asked.

“Correct. Come, we’ll talk more in the car.”

As Eishi reluctantly followed Senichi outside, he ignored the two police men falling into line besides him and looked at the sky. The sunrise was too beautiful, painting the clouds in a pink and red array. It never had looked so far away before. Eishi brought his gaze back to the ground, a dull ache blossoming in his chest and tingling in his sleeping wing mass. Senichi opened the door of a black car for him.

“I’m not being locked up in a police car, a gun to my head?” Eishi asked with a dry smile.

“There’s no need for that, is there?” Senichi asked, smiling back as his eyes glinted in a too-amused way. Eishi could read that hidden warning but didn’t give the inspector the satisfaction of a reaction. He simply ducked his head inside the car. Senichi closed the door behind him, and walked around to sit in the driver’s seat. The policemen outside were talking to Eishi’s mother, or going back to their own police cars.

“Does Eden not have enough funds to pay drivers to transport inspectors?” Eishi asked, putting his foot on the armrest between the two front seats and tapping his toast leisurely to get crumbs over the backseat. It served Eden right for basically kidnapping him. He didn’t bother with his seatbelt. 

Senichi didn’t seem to mind, only chuckled and adjusted his rearview mirror to meet Eishi’s glare. “I wanted to talk to you personally. About what your group did, and what will happen from now on.” The car started moving.

“What did we do?”

“You and your group did something to re-program Kinoko-san’s mind.” Senichi said, “Which means there is a Linker in your group. Which one of you is it?”

Eishi frowned deeply as familiar surroundings passed by the car.

_**”They know what we did last night. They that one of us is a Linker.”**_ He tweeted out.

_”Damn.”_ Irene hissed. Umino made a worried sound.

_”What can we do to help?”_ Rei asked.

_**”You can help me by not falling into their trap and staying away… I’ll keep you updated. Right now I’m in a car with that inspector, Hai.”** _

_”Okay.”_ Rei replied solemnly.

_”Oh, that nasty guy! I hope I get to beat his face in!”_ Irene hissed.

“Did you honestly think you can stay free like this?” Kenichi asked, “Brainwashing the minds of humans, refusing to own up to your own actions…”

“Yes. We never meant any harm,” Eishi replied, his tone flat, “It was _you_ who made the first shot by threatening our freedom.”

“I see. What I said back then was merely a warning, but now, your retaliation has... startled Eden.”

_Startled? I’m terrified by what you’ve had to make us do to protect ourselves._ Eishi thought bitterly.

“And so we’ve had to bring you in more forcefully than we would have liked,” Senichi continued, “So we can separate you from your group. Even if you don’t tell us, we’ll find out who the Linker is eventually.”

_**”They’re planning on isolating me from the rest of you, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t using me to bait you out. They don’t know who the Linker is.”** _Eishi tweeted out, shoving the rest of the bread into his mouth and chewing._ _

__“Don’t worry. We’ll put you in a much better environment, even if it may seem like we’re clipping your wings.”_ _

__Eishi sighed, disliking the metaphor greatly. “To ‘manage’ the birdmen in China and Europe, right?”_ _

__“That spares that explanation. I’m sure that leading a large group is where a Bellwether like you can flourish.”_ _

__Eishi didn’t reply. He did have plans to go to the out-of-control birdmen, but doing it on Eden’s terms left a terrible taste in his mouth…_ _

__“What does Eden want with a Linker?” He asked._ _

__“A Linker is the ability that Eden wants the most. They would help us to further understand Seraphim directly.” Senichi replied._ _

__“And by understanding, you can be less afraid of us?” Eishi asked. The silence ticked on, and it soon grew obvious he wasn’t going to get an answer, “I am not telling Eden who the Linker is.”_ _

__“Would you rather have Eden take all of your group away from their daily lives?”_ _

__“Don’t act like Eden doesn’t already want to kidnap all of us the first chance that you people get.” Eishi scoffed, “We just want to be left alone.”_ _

__“I see.”_ _

__They parked in front of a tall building downtown._ _

___**”I’m at... Some sort of EDEN secret base, most likely.”**_ He tweeted as Senichi turned off the car._ _

___”A tall building between a bakery and a bookstore?”_ Irene asked._ _

___**”Yeah, seems like the place.”** _ _ _

___”That’s their headquarters alright.”_ _ _

___”I can’t take this lying down anymore!”_ Kamoda suddenly burst out, _”Isn’t there anything we can do?!”__ _

___**”I said, stay where you are and don’t come after me. Don’t try to save me, worry about yourselves.”**_ Eishi replied, _**”I’ll find some way out on my own.”**__ _

__There was silence for a moment. Kenichi opened the car door._ _

__“Are you ready to go?” Kenichi asked._ _

_”No! I won’t have you take all of this on yourself again!”_ Rei was next to say. 

_”Yeah! Come up with something! Or else we’re going in now! Let’s save Karasuma!”_ Umino cried out. 

_”With my ability, I’ll slice through that building like it’s butter!”_ Even Irene had been sucked into the determination of the rest. 

__Listening to their hopeful tones filled Eishi with equal parts warmth and trepidation. They… really cared for him, didn’t they? Eishi would have given everything to fly away with them, but he had to keep his face blank, his breaths normal. He had to..._ _

__“Karasuma-kun, are you ready to go?” Kenichi watched Eishi expectantly, patiently._ _

___**”I’m asking you to stay back. Do you want me to use my bellwether ability?”**_ Eishi’s tweet became dangerously close to activating his ability, _**”If you want to stay free, please fly away as soon as you can. Takayama’s somewhere in Germany… I’ll escape and find all of you eventually.”**_ He paused, looking away from Senichi to hide his face under his bangs, his voice sincere now, _**”I’m sorry I can’t protect you further than this… Irene, what do they do with captured seraphim?"**__ _

___”I imagine they’ll give you a checkup, and then put some tracking device on you before locking you up somewhere.”_ Irene replied quietly. _ _

__

__

___**”Okay… I’ll keep you guys updated as long as you’re in range. Please do the same on your end.”**_ Eishi replied. _ _

__

__

“Are you talking to the rest of the seraphim?” Senichi asked, “Asking them to save you, perhaps?” 

__Eishi looked up at him and smirked, blinking the red in his irises away. “That would be convenient for you, wouldn’t it?” He paused to take in Senichi’s own surprised smile, but his smile soon dropped as he found no satisfaction in it. He got out of the car. “Lead the way.”_ _


End file.
